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Chet Atkins or Jerry Reed

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Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins have collaborated numerous times over the years. They obviously have mutual respect for one another’s skills.

https://youtu.be/kXGufHcdfME?si=3RpEurOca5g_iqw5

https://youtu.be/43dK4edJ4XA?si=KxUisHqx5a03VvMn

https://youtu.be/CxFLN0EWjjw?si=7-F35U2JboFagqLa

Knopfler is so humble about his skill. He compared his style to a plumber holding a hammer.

There's no best guitar player ever...too many different styles to compare and far too many talented pickers out there for any one of them to be considered 'The Best'.

Some Pink Floyd bias here, but i think that David Gilmore is one of the many greats who've applied their talents to the guitar. Possibly one of his best solo runs right here to close out a live performance of Comfortably Numb from the amphitheater at Pompeii.

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I'm liking Gilmore more than ever. Without him in the band, I doubt I'd have listened to Pink Floyd.

Agreed. Syd Barrett is, in Pink Floyd fan circles, worshipped as some kind of musical savant or something. I have copies of pretty much everything he ever recorded, with and without Pink Floyd. Very uneven, ranging from pure genius to just scattered mayhem. The band would have never risen to the heights that David Gilmore helped them achieve if Syd Barrett had remained their front man and creative inspiration. He was just too "out there". David Gilmore made them much more listenable, while maintaining a very unique and creative style. I'm convinced that no one would even know who Pink Floyd were had he not taken over.

Those who love acoustic guitar should go to a Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention held annually in Nashville, usually the week before summer NAMM. The artists are accessible and the jams are epic. Most are not commercially successful; it is all about the music.

Thread title should be the best commercially successful guitarist, electric or acoustic. There's hundreds, or thousands of electric, acoustic, flamenco guitarists that are suburb but never achieved or wanted that type success.

Lil' Wayne has some serious chops .....

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Both Mark Knopfler and Lindsay Buckingham are "finger pickers".

Two other great guitarists seldom mentioned are Roy Clark and Glen Campbell.

Around these parts ... Jerry Rice and many others too :)

And speaking of Jerrys :D

Garcia ... and does dobro count?

'cause Jerry Douglas blazing away on a Hendrix tune doesn't suck either...

Can we retitle to Favorite Guitarist(s) Ever ‘cause thats all these ever morph into.

Billy Strings (Apostle), more than a flat picker. The best players I know love to collaborate with others and Billy certainly does this.

Agreed. Roy Clark was a very good guitar player, definitely underrated IMO. Don’t know if Prince has been mentioned, but he’s underrated as a guitar player too. Not a huge fan of his music, but he has some chops. Derek Truck is awesome as has been mentioned, and I will always be personally partial to Edward Van Halen.

Yup.
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